Make Your Home Among Strangers

Jennine Capó Crucet’s first novel, Make Your Home Among Strangers, is a beautifully written story about a Cuban-American family set in the backdrop of the Elián González affair in Miami. Through the candid yet warm and humorous narrator, Lizet, the book explores the fraught history of Cuban-American relations and the dissonance that arises from being caught between two cultures.

The themes in Make Your Home Among Strangers will resonate across our campus and community. In particular, this year’s common reading connects with the university's commitment to diversity, access, and success. In addition, it encourages deep and meaningful conversations about first generation students, Hispanic and Latino cultures, history, and immigration.

Jennine Capó Crucet is an assistant professor of English and Ethnic Studies at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Crucet is a winner of an O. Henry Prize and a Bread Loaf Fellow. Make Your Home Among Strangers has been long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.